The present application relates to enabling software features on a computing device.
Software product licensing uses several methods to ensure that only legitimate users can use the software application. These methods range from static license keys (a.k.a. serial licenses) to dedicated license servers, such as FlexNet Publisher. Current methods provide different degrees of security at the expense of deployment and maintenance complexity. While use of simple static license keys are the least complex, they offer a limited amount of protection and functionality. License servers are the most complex, while offering the highest level of protection, but are more costly. Further, in the case of a periodic license, when the expiration date is reached, the license file will be regenerated and provided by the vendor to the end user for update. Such systems do not scale well in time as the license cannot be dynamically revoked by the vendor, once it has been issued.